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Andy K (10821 KP) created a post in Smashbomb Feedback
Apr 16, 2018
Kevin Phillipson (9943 KP) rated The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) in Movies
Nov 5, 2022 (Updated Nov 5, 2022)
The Craggus (360 KP) rated Hotel Artemis (2018) in Movies
Jul 29, 2018
Hotel Artemis (2018) is perfect for a short stay. #Review
I approached “Hotel Artemis” with an uneasy trepidation, born out of learning that it ran for a trim (these days) 96 minutes. My reasoning was simple: usually a high-concept star-powered action thriller that runs around the hour and a half mark is a sign of something going wrong and a desperate attempt to save the film in the editing suite. I needn’t have worried because if that is the case, I couldn’t see the joins. Drew Pearce’s feature film directorial debut is a lean, linear slice of action cinema with some terrific performances...
FULL REVIEW: http://bit.ly/CraggusHotelArtemis
FULL REVIEW: http://bit.ly/CraggusHotelArtemis
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Red Eye (2005) in Movies
Sep 21, 2020
Fight or Flight
Red Eye- is a decent thiller. Both Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murray are really good.
The plot: In the wake of her grandmother's funeral, hotel manager Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) is waiting to fly back home when she meets charming Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy) at check-in. She thinks it luck that they're seated together on the plane, but soon learns otherwise. Jackson hopes to assassinate the head of Homeland Security, but to do so, he needs Lisa to reassign the official's room number at her hotel. As insurance, Jackson has kidnapped Lisa's father (Brian Cox).
Like i said its a decent movie.
The plot: In the wake of her grandmother's funeral, hotel manager Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) is waiting to fly back home when she meets charming Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy) at check-in. She thinks it luck that they're seated together on the plane, but soon learns otherwise. Jackson hopes to assassinate the head of Homeland Security, but to do so, he needs Lisa to reassign the official's room number at her hotel. As insurance, Jackson has kidnapped Lisa's father (Brian Cox).
Like i said its a decent movie.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated American Horror Story - Season 5 in TV
Dec 5, 2019
AHS season 5 - subtitled 'Hotel' - is a real mixture of genres. It's part vampire dram, part crime-mystery thriller, part haunted house... It's ambitious to say the least.
A lot of people took issue with Hotel before it even aired, mainly due the absence of series favourite Jessica Lange, but in all honesty, as much as I like her, I didn't find myself missing her all that much, and the same goes for subsequent entries!
The season this time around is headed by Lady Gaga, who plays a pretty decent psuedo-villain - The Countess is unnerving, relatable, creepy, and tragic all at the same time, and is the beating heart of Hotel.
Not far behind is Evan Peters Mr March. I personally found this character a bit too cartoony at times, but he's still an important character, especially pulling strings behind everyone else back.
I also loved Kathy Bates and Denis O'Hare in this season, and their characters, and especially their devotion to The Countess, make the Hotel Cortez and oddly alluring place to be.
Wes Bentley gets a starring turn this time around after a bit part in Freak Show, and I actually enjoyed his character arc after not particularly caring to begin with.
Once again, I liked most if the cast, I just found it a shame that Sarah Paulson didn't get much to do here!
The plot itself is pretty thick in Hotel, lots of twists and turns, lots of different time periods being visited, and it's quite disorientating to begin with. It's a less accessible season than before but once you get into it, it's a great supernatural mystery horror ride with some inspiration from The Shining and Twin Peaks thrown in for good measure.
Just to top it off, we even get an appearance from Queenie, creating a direct connection to Coven and the wider AHS universe, an aspect of this show that I truly enjoy.
It's not my favourite season of AHS, (that Devil's Night episode was annoyingly cringey) but all in all, Hotel is pretty engaging television.
A lot of people took issue with Hotel before it even aired, mainly due the absence of series favourite Jessica Lange, but in all honesty, as much as I like her, I didn't find myself missing her all that much, and the same goes for subsequent entries!
The season this time around is headed by Lady Gaga, who plays a pretty decent psuedo-villain - The Countess is unnerving, relatable, creepy, and tragic all at the same time, and is the beating heart of Hotel.
Not far behind is Evan Peters Mr March. I personally found this character a bit too cartoony at times, but he's still an important character, especially pulling strings behind everyone else back.
I also loved Kathy Bates and Denis O'Hare in this season, and their characters, and especially their devotion to The Countess, make the Hotel Cortez and oddly alluring place to be.
Wes Bentley gets a starring turn this time around after a bit part in Freak Show, and I actually enjoyed his character arc after not particularly caring to begin with.
Once again, I liked most if the cast, I just found it a shame that Sarah Paulson didn't get much to do here!
The plot itself is pretty thick in Hotel, lots of twists and turns, lots of different time periods being visited, and it's quite disorientating to begin with. It's a less accessible season than before but once you get into it, it's a great supernatural mystery horror ride with some inspiration from The Shining and Twin Peaks thrown in for good measure.
Just to top it off, we even get an appearance from Queenie, creating a direct connection to Coven and the wider AHS universe, an aspect of this show that I truly enjoy.
It's not my favourite season of AHS, (that Devil's Night episode was annoyingly cringey) but all in all, Hotel is pretty engaging television.
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel in TV
Feb 22, 2021
Scarily glamourises internet sleuthing
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is the latest stylised true crime documentary from Netflix, and it’s a pretty scary watch, but not in the way you’d expect from something that has been advertised as a supernatural murder mystery.
The 4 episode documentary series focuses on a notorious hotel in downtown L.A, Hotel Cecil, and the disappearance of a Canadian student, Elisa Lam, who went missing from the hotel in unexplained circumstances and who was later found dead. On paper this has everything a true crime lover wants: CCTV footage of the victim acting strangely, a creepy hotel with a dodgy history and a lot of strange and unusual circumstances, which culminates in Elisa Lam’s decomposing body being found in a water tank on the hotel roof days after her disappearance, the same water that the hotel guests have been drinking all along. It’s a truly fascinating story and if done properly, would have been very interesting. However in the hands of director Joe Berlinger, the disappearance of Elisa Lam has been turned into a dull, drawn out affair that dangerously glamourises baseless conspiracy theories.
One of the two main problems is that this documentary has been drawn out over 4 hour long episodes, when realistically the true story of Elisa Lam’s disappearance could still have been told effectively in an hour, maybe two maximum, without detracting from the facts. And I guess that’s really the problem with The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, it isn’t necessarily all that concerned about the facts but rather just wants to create a film-like entertaining story, with the facts almost an afterthought crammed into the final parts of the last episode. It features lengthy and pointless interviews from other guests and tourists to try and give us a feel of what life at the Cecil was like, and these are entirely unnecessary, as some short exposition from the hotel manager or officers involved would’ve sufficed. Every part of this case is stretched so thinly that you almost lose track after having to weed out the truth and facts amongst all the irrelevant interviews and chatter. It isn’t helped by the narration of some of Elisa’s Tumblr posts, which comes across as cheesy and irritating rather than emotional and meaningful like it was probably intended.
What is most irrelevant and dangerous about this documentary, and the second main problem, is the focus on internet sleuths. These are mostly YouTubers who have spent hours dissecting every aspect of the case and have put forward many outrageous theories, all of which are completely laughable. But instead of mocking these idiots, this documentary glamourises them and their theories, and has dedicated more of it’s runtime to them than it has to any of the real life detectives and investigators involved. Watching these people wheel out one ridiculous theory after another had me wanting to throw my remote at the screen to make it stop. The theories ranged from the questionably plausible (foul player or murder) to the downright ludicrous - someone copying the film Dark Water, possible links to the Lam-Elisa TB test and a vast cover up jointly orchestrated by the police, hotel management and coroners staff are the ones that made me laugh and cringe the most.
All jokes aside, this focus on internet sleuths is extremely damaging and dangerous and this is illustrated by the awful accusations they made about Pablo Vergara aka Morbid, who’s only crime was to make music that wouldn’t be considered mainstream. If this documentary had focused on slamming these people and highlighting the dangers of them getting involved, then it would’ve redeemed itself. But it doesn’t, it gives them centre stage and debunking their theories is almost an afterthought. They aren’t even condemned for their treatment of Pablo despite the obviously long lasting effects on his mental health. These people are crazy and this only serves to highlight the huge problem with internet, video streaming sites and social media – how Joe public can ever think they know better than qualified pathologists and investigators is beyond me. And how this documentary can indulge and glamourise these people is even worse. From working a day job in the emergency services, I know how damaging this sort of interference and public perception can be.
The story of Elisa Lam’s disappearance at the Hotel Cecil is undoubtedly an interesting one. However in Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, the real story has been mauled and disrespected by the focus and respect given to the internet sleuths and their absurd theories. I feel like I’m being generous giving it a 3, it made me so angry.
The 4 episode documentary series focuses on a notorious hotel in downtown L.A, Hotel Cecil, and the disappearance of a Canadian student, Elisa Lam, who went missing from the hotel in unexplained circumstances and who was later found dead. On paper this has everything a true crime lover wants: CCTV footage of the victim acting strangely, a creepy hotel with a dodgy history and a lot of strange and unusual circumstances, which culminates in Elisa Lam’s decomposing body being found in a water tank on the hotel roof days after her disappearance, the same water that the hotel guests have been drinking all along. It’s a truly fascinating story and if done properly, would have been very interesting. However in the hands of director Joe Berlinger, the disappearance of Elisa Lam has been turned into a dull, drawn out affair that dangerously glamourises baseless conspiracy theories.
One of the two main problems is that this documentary has been drawn out over 4 hour long episodes, when realistically the true story of Elisa Lam’s disappearance could still have been told effectively in an hour, maybe two maximum, without detracting from the facts. And I guess that’s really the problem with The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, it isn’t necessarily all that concerned about the facts but rather just wants to create a film-like entertaining story, with the facts almost an afterthought crammed into the final parts of the last episode. It features lengthy and pointless interviews from other guests and tourists to try and give us a feel of what life at the Cecil was like, and these are entirely unnecessary, as some short exposition from the hotel manager or officers involved would’ve sufficed. Every part of this case is stretched so thinly that you almost lose track after having to weed out the truth and facts amongst all the irrelevant interviews and chatter. It isn’t helped by the narration of some of Elisa’s Tumblr posts, which comes across as cheesy and irritating rather than emotional and meaningful like it was probably intended.
What is most irrelevant and dangerous about this documentary, and the second main problem, is the focus on internet sleuths. These are mostly YouTubers who have spent hours dissecting every aspect of the case and have put forward many outrageous theories, all of which are completely laughable. But instead of mocking these idiots, this documentary glamourises them and their theories, and has dedicated more of it’s runtime to them than it has to any of the real life detectives and investigators involved. Watching these people wheel out one ridiculous theory after another had me wanting to throw my remote at the screen to make it stop. The theories ranged from the questionably plausible (foul player or murder) to the downright ludicrous - someone copying the film Dark Water, possible links to the Lam-Elisa TB test and a vast cover up jointly orchestrated by the police, hotel management and coroners staff are the ones that made me laugh and cringe the most.
All jokes aside, this focus on internet sleuths is extremely damaging and dangerous and this is illustrated by the awful accusations they made about Pablo Vergara aka Morbid, who’s only crime was to make music that wouldn’t be considered mainstream. If this documentary had focused on slamming these people and highlighting the dangers of them getting involved, then it would’ve redeemed itself. But it doesn’t, it gives them centre stage and debunking their theories is almost an afterthought. They aren’t even condemned for their treatment of Pablo despite the obviously long lasting effects on his mental health. These people are crazy and this only serves to highlight the huge problem with internet, video streaming sites and social media – how Joe public can ever think they know better than qualified pathologists and investigators is beyond me. And how this documentary can indulge and glamourise these people is even worse. From working a day job in the emergency services, I know how damaging this sort of interference and public perception can be.
The story of Elisa Lam’s disappearance at the Hotel Cecil is undoubtedly an interesting one. However in Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, the real story has been mauled and disrespected by the focus and respect given to the internet sleuths and their absurd theories. I feel like I’m being generous giving it a 3, it made me so angry.
AJaneClark (3962 KP) rated The Mister in Books
Jul 30, 2019
Not my normal reading
Gave this a chance as it was on the lending shelf at the hotel, and found myself pleasantly surprised. I’m not a fan or James’s fifty shades trilogy, but this I kind of enjoyed. Whilst still fantastical, the characters were slightly more realistic and likeable.
AT (1676 KP) rated Michael Jackson's Halloween in TV
Oct 21, 2018 (Updated Oct 21, 2018)
What in the world did I just watch?! Two animated young people find themselves trapped in some odd monster hotel. Coupled with Michael Jackson showing up throughout the show as different characters, the storyline was weird. At least they did do Thriller at the end. The show's idea was okay. The execution, not so much.
Kim Tierney (5309 KP) rated A Gentleman in Moscow in Books
Jun 18, 2020
This was oddly intriguing. There were a few times when I felt bored and contemplated setting it aside, but then I would turn the page and my attention was captivated once again. It absolutely makes you consider your own quarantine circumstances while reading about Count Rostov and his life stuck inside the Metropol Hotel.
Hany El Nokaly (659 KP) Apr 17, 2018
Andy K (10821 KP) Apr 17, 2018